Thursday, July 12, 2012

Last night was proof that it's still rainy season in Ethiopia. It rained so hard it sounded like a Dutch clogging team was choreographing a new routine on the metal roof above my room.

A night of rain meant cattle had trouble finding the dirt roads off of the main highway.

So did we. In fact, we got to travel 9 miles from Bulbula to Oitu on roads that looked like this.

Water was at some points up to the hood of our Land Cruiser which made me happy. Paige, not so much.

Once we arrived in Oitu we were greeted by the most beautiful kiddos. Don't believe me?

Just look at these faces!

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

And more beautiful. Sheesh.

And sometimes they don't let go of your paws. Double sheesh.

Food for the Hungry has been in Oitu for just over three months. We met with almost 20 of the community leaders and discussed both their assets and challenges faced living in Oitu.

Most of this community relies heavily on farming and crop production. And even when all the stars align and everyone has a 100% crop yield there are an average of 300 people who won't have enough food.

This truth was a sobering reminder everywhere we looked.

Thankfully, FH already has 500 kids in their child sponsorship program in Oitu. This afternoon we got to meet this mom whose children qualified for the program based on her lack income, land, and assets.

We also got to meet Teresa who lives in a small rural town about a half hour outside of Ziway. She's been a part of the Food for the Hungry child sponsorship program for the last 5 years.

Seeing her letters from her adoptive family moved all of us to tears. Just another reminder that child sponsorships and letters sent over oceans really do change lives.

We also got to visit a library that FH has built that offers classroom space for 132 kids in Mana Kitaaba. I seriously can't get enough of all that God is doing through this organization.
To end the day we got to see a beautiful sunset on the roof of our hotel. Tonight I'm going to go to bed with a full belly and a hot shower, but just over that fence there is a much different story. This wrecks me. I'm thankful for my friends at FH who constantly remind me that what I do is a reflection of what I believe. Would you consider acting with me?

Your blog posts have been so inspiring. I've been on a couple of awesome mission trips like this and love the way you're documenting them. I'm wondering about the logistics. Are these pictures from your iphone or did you take your SLR? Do you get internet on your phone, I see your awesome posts on twitter and instagram. Great tools to track your experience and let us see how lives are being changed on that side of the world through your eyes!Will keep praying for you and what you guys are doing!

christi, it means more than you know. sponsor kids always say what they value most (even more than their uniform, food, and education) is letters from their sponsor parents. keep writing sarah letters!

anony, your amazing! i can say with full confidence that the money you donated will be stewarded with excellence. thank you*

anony, i have taken all of the photos using my iphone4 and edit them in instagram. our professional photog just got here today as he was stuck in gahna! all of us bloggers do get internet in ziway, but i have a friend back in the states post my photos on instagram for me. (no wi-fi). great questions! and thanks for reading :)

Great photos and posts! Read the previous anony question and I also do mission work and wondered, how does your friend in the states get your instagram pics, and do they reply to the comments on instagram? I love following you and keeping up with you guys! So thankful for you and blessing those kiddos.

anony, i email her the pics from my laptop, but i reply to all of the comments on insta. she just posts them for mme which is a huge help since wifi is hard to come by on my iphone in ethi. now that i'm back i have the ability to do it again!

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